February 22, 2004

ROBBIE, THE CLOSEST THING WE'VE GOT TO ELVIS

I don't know about you, but I can barely stand to watch Robbie. He's almost too perfect an object of hatred. The arch PoMo meta-prancing, the cocaine gurning, the faux-profundity of the lyrics (actually listen to the words of the vile 'Angels', for instance: they are signifers of meaningfulness that are in themselves almost total nonsense), the end-of-the-pier England-at-its-worst 'humour', the tiresome arrogance and posturing self-hatred. He manages to push ALL my buttons, manages to work me up into a steaming rage EVERY TIME I see the fuck.

I've only heard his singles on radio or TV, but I kind of like them. The lyrics are rarely anything more than clever (and at least they're that), but I doubt Robbie would claim them to be anything more. That might be just another pose, though.